Compensation paid out to frustrated rail passengers over late-running or cancelled trains has doubled in two years to nearly £26million as punctuality of Britain’s railways has plummeted, official Government figures have revealed.

Alarmingly, the pay-outs at a rate of more than £70,000 a day have risen nearly nine-fold in just five years.

Transport campaigners described the damning figures, published yesterday on the Department for Transport website, as ‘deeply worrying’.

Sir Richard Branson's West Coast rail service has made the biggest compensation payouts to passengers

Rail watchdogs said the pay-outs were a sad indictment of worsening punctuality over the last five years – but took heart that passengers were being more assertive in demanding their money back.

Compensation payments for delays and cancellations reached a staggering £25.62million in 2014/15 - up from £22.61m the previous year and double the £12.60million of 2012/13.

But the figure is more than eight times larger than five years ago when it was just shy of £3million (£2.98million).

The row comes in the week the Government announced that regulated fares would be hiked by 1 per cent in the New Year.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

The biggest compensation pay-outs were on Sir Richard Branson’s West Coast mainline from London Euston to Glasgow at £10.4million – up from £6.8m in 2013/14 – a rise of 52 per cent.

The East Coast line was next at £6.7million.

Of this the lion’s share - £6.25 million - was paid when the line was ‘nationalised’ and run directly by the Department of Transport.

Another £450,000 was paid out in just one after Virgin took over the line in March this year until April 1.

Other compensation payouts included: Abellio Greater Anglia at £2.31m; Southern at £1.62m; Cross Country at £1.36m; Southeastern at £1.35m; Govia Thameslink at £584,000; East Midlands at £516,000; London Midland at £432,000; First Capital Connect at £339m; and c2c at £23,000.

In their defence, the rail operators claim about half the delays on the railways are caused by Network Rail which owns and manages track and signalling infrastructure.

Last September it was revealed that operators were paid £167 million by Network Rail during 2013/14 for delays caused by track, signals and other infrastructure failures, for which the taxpayer-funded company is re-ponsible. However, the train operators only handed over an estimated £50 million to passengers.

Hard-pressed passengers have received £26million in compensation payouts over the last two years

Rail campaigners say passengers are being priced off trains despite the Government’s announcement that regulated fares will be increased by the lowest amount in six years.

The annual new-year rise for regulated tickets is based on the previous July’s rate of Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation, announced by the Office for National Statistics. The 2016 increase will be the lowest since 2010, when fares actually decreased by 0.4%. But in the following five years annual rises have been between 2.5% and 6%.

Martin Abrams, public transport spokesman for the Campaign for Better Transport said: ‘It’s deeply worrying that there has been such a steep rise in compensation payments over the last few years, and whilst steps have been taken to make claiming for a delay easier, punctuality figures show an increase in delays and cancellations over the same period which has led to this spike.’

He added: ‘What passengers want is a reliable train service and value for money, not constant delays and exorbitant fares’.

David Sidebottom, Transport Focus’s passenger director, said: ‘The bad news is that punctuality has got worse in the last five years. Our research has found that passenger satisfaction with punctuality has gone down by more than seven percentage points in that same period.

‘The good news is that more and more passengers are exercising their compensation rights. Train companies are also getting better at making passengers aware of what they’re entitled to and making it easier to claim compensation.’

Rail minister Claire Perry said last night (Thus): ‘If customers are hit by significant delays, it is only right that they get the compensation they are entitled to. I have been clear with the rail industry that it must make it easier for people to claim, and I am pleased to see that these measures are working and that more people are successfully claiming.

‘Our record levels of investment in the railways will provide better journeys for hard working passengers but operators and Network Rail must work together to improve performance and keep disruption to a minimum.’

Campaigners have poured scorn plans re-announced by the Rail Minister to bring in automated compensation payments if a train runs more than two minutes late – widely seen as an attempt to deflect attention away from more fundamental criticism of the railways. The plan depends on ‘smart ticketing’.

If a train is between 30 minutes and an hour late, passengers will receive 50 per cent of the value of their ticket. Beyond an hour and they will get a full refund. Critics say the Government is still ‘years away from a countrywide roll out’.

The Campaign for Better Transport’s Martin Abrams added: ‘This week the Rail Minister Claire Perry talked about automated compensation payments but that will only work with smart Oyster style ticketing technology and the government and rail industry are still years away from a countrywide roll out.’

Currently the amount of compensation offered by each train company varies, but as a minimum if you arrive more than 60 minutes late at your destination station you will be entitled to compensation worth 50 per cent of the delayed leg.